Following the success of the “I Am Not a Plastic Bag” campaign in 2007, English fashion designer Anya Hindmarch returns with the “next generation of re-usable bags” with the launch of the fully recycled and recyclable Universal Bag.
Exclusively available at Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, each supermarket will have its unique design and colour, made by retail manufacturer Solent Group. The re-usable bag (the material used was not disclosed) was designed to tackle a range of sustainability issues of single-use plastic bags.
However, while a re-usable bag is meant to reduce plastic bag use, many just get used a few times, forgotten, or thrown away. So its environmental impact is only as good as how often it is used.
“Single-use plastic is one small piece of moving towards sustainability,” said Shelie Miller, a professor of sustainable systems at the University of Michigan and an author of a study tackling misconceptions and impact on single-use plastic.
Take tote bags, for example, says Miller. “We know that consumers like them. We know that they want to reuse them. But we also know that many people don’t use their totes with enough regularity to make up for the fact those totes use more material than plastic grocery bags.”
According to Hindmarch’s website, as a more considered purchase, the bag is guaranteed to last for 10 years and has an innovative built-in returns pouch. Once it has reached its end-of-life, owners can simply fold the bag into its pouch – avoiding contamination, and using the printed Freepost address, send over the bag to the recycling facility where it will be 100-per-cent recycled locally.
The Universal Bag is available for purchase for £10 ($13.39). The Sainsbury’s edition launches in December in 334 stores, while the Waitrose edition launches in 90 stores in late January.
